Daje Johnson's 85-yard punt return for a touchdown gave Texas a 14-0 lead and helped get the Longhorns rolling on both sides of the ball.

Daje Johnson's 85-yard punt return for a touchdown gave Texas a 14-0 lead and helped get the Longhorns rolling on both sides of the ball.

Photo: Jay Janner, MBR

Freshman Heard gives UT a big lift in romp over Rice

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AUSTIN - If Saturday is remembered someday as the night Texas football finally liberated itself from misery, the legend will begin as such tales often do:

With an escape.

For 13 months, Texas quarterback Jerrod Heard represented hope, but that hope had been shackled. His coaches swore he wasn't ready, so he stayed on the sideline as the Longhorns' offense continued its descent into ineptitude.

And when Heard broke free, so did the Longhorns. They broke free from almost 10 months of frustration, dating to their last victory. They broke free of the sense of impending doom brought on by a season-opening blowout loss to Notre Dame. And for once, when they took a glimpse of their future, they didn't have to dread it.

"That was the goal," Heard said. "Bringing a spark."

Exuding exactly the kind of panache his coaches and teammates had hoped for, Heard ran for 95 yards and completed 4 of 7 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns in his first college start.

Youth movement

Even more encouraging for the Longhorns, he was only one of a field full of first-year players who gave the crowd of 86,458 all kinds of reasons to believe the Longhorns are headed in the right direction.

Yes, this was only one victory against an opponent best known for being a perennial underdog. But after watching Heard and his fellow freshmen, Strong was downright giddy at the thought of what might happen next.

"He's a winner - he has an attitude about him," Strong said. "He's got so much energy to him. He just bounces around. We needed that spark."

With new play-caller Jay Norvell in charge of the Longhorns' up-tempo attack, Heard shook the UT offense out of a historically humiliating three-game slumber, displaying not only elite legs but also a strong, accurate arm.

UT (1-1) knew the two-time high school state champion at Denton Guyer could run, but the most encouraging play of the night was a perfect deep ball to freshman John Burt for a 65-yard touchdown to open the third quarter.

After one long run in the second half, he punished himself with three quick pushups.

"It was weak of me to get tackled," Heard said, smiling.

Said Strong: "When he took off, you knew something exciting was going to happen."

Defensively, UT showed some reasons to be concerned. Rice (1-1) battered the Longhorns often early on and owned a huge 21:36-8:24 edge in time of possession in the first half.

But when the Longhorns' defense woke up, youngsters were a big part of it. Freshman cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Holton Hill played much of the second half, and both made an impact. Boyd's huge hit in the third quarter created a fumble that freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson scooped up and returned 26 yards for a touchdown.

Future is now

And much like last week, Jefferson often looked like the most exciting defensive player on the field. Blitzing early and often, he put constant pressure on Rice quarterback Driphus Jackson and collected eight tackles before halftime.

Earlier in the week, Jefferson talked about how people needed to believe in the Longhorns because of what will happen in the next few years. Saturday, he amended his statement about UT's bright future.

"It has to happen now," Jefferson said. "This program's not broken. We're just shaken a little."